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Post by n1david on Oct 26, 2018 16:11:22 GMT
I booked for Heathers through a discount deal (Encore Tickets) a couple of days ago.
Today I've seen that the performance I booked for has been changed to a Singalong performance, which I don't want to go to. I wrote to Encore to ask for a refund, as there isn't another date within the discount period that I can make.
This is their response:
I'm not happy with this - I am not the one amending the booking, the production is! And given I'll almost certainly lose my booking fee, I'm £22.50 down (for two tickets) through no fault of my own.
Any thoughts from the team on how to go back? I am considering whether to approach my credit card company to ask them to argue for me on the grounds that the agency is not supplying the product which I ordered.
I would accept that replacement of a lead performer by an understudy would not qualify for a refund, but if I go to this show I will hear the audience singing rather than the performers - an entirely different experience.
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Post by sophie92 on Oct 26, 2018 16:16:32 GMT
Even though you didn’t book through them, I would contact Theatre Royal Haymarket. Tell them what Encore have told you and ask if there is anything they are able to do that won’t incur a charge. I’ve seen on Twitter that they’ve been very helpful with people who weren’t able to make their booked performance despite booking with a third party so I think it’s probably worth talking to them.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 26, 2018 16:36:21 GMT
When is this sing-along happening?
ETA: nevermind, I found the info.
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Post by n1david on Oct 26, 2018 16:39:35 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Oct 26, 2018 17:45:57 GMT
If you dig through the Bat Out of Hell thread I think someone had a similar issue there
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Post by David J on Oct 26, 2018 18:08:46 GMT
I had a similar problem when the Old Vic changed the performance of a Christmas carol that I was taking my mum to was changed to a relaxed performance.
Nothing against a relaxed performance but that wasn’t what we booked for in the first place. My mum is half deaf so the sound of loud kids during the show would not help. I thought relaxed performances were announced separately
My mum did enough complaining to get apologies from the management and top price tickets in the stalls on another date. The only downside was we had also booked cheap front row seat for don Quixote on the original date. My mum doesn’t want to make two trips to London in the same month so she’s going to have to miss it
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Post by sophie92 on Oct 26, 2018 18:11:14 GMT
It could also be possible that third party sellers just haven’t received direction yet, and will be told to allow ticket purchasers to swap to another performance.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 26, 2018 18:19:48 GMT
My friend booked for that night too and want a refund but none was offered, even though sold under false pretense.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 26, 2018 18:25:35 GMT
It's basic greed, wanting to milk the fangirls for all they can. We knew this when we saw the prices of merch and the prices for the tickets. Its disgusting really.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 26, 2018 18:59:11 GMT
I know its tangental but Heather's sing-along sounds like hell in every respect.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 26, 2018 19:10:54 GMT
our suppliers are within their legal right to decline I would be very surprised if that was true. A singalong performance is an entirely different experience from a regular performance. |
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Post by partytentdown on Oct 27, 2018 7:49:41 GMT
You should absolutely complain to STAR and also SOLT. And as suggested, your credit company should step in if you have no luck.
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Post by joem on Oct 27, 2018 8:36:03 GMT
A performance of Romeo and Juliet at the Rose Bankside has been cancelled at short notice. I'm worried they may have eloped.
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Post by ellie1981 on Oct 27, 2018 10:13:40 GMT
You should absolutely complain to STAR and also SOLT. And as suggested, your credit company should step in if you have no luck. It would be interesting if a whole bunch of people did this, got refunds from their credit card company and just didn’t show up, leaving a half empty theatre. They may think twice about it next time. |
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Oct 27, 2018 10:32:02 GMT
I booked for Heathers through a discount deal (Encore Tickets) a couple of days ago. Today I've seen that the performance I booked for has been changed to a Singalong performance, which I don't want to go to. I wrote to Encore to ask for a refund, as there isn't another date within the discount period that I can make. This is their response: I'm not happy with this - I am not the one amending the booking, the production is! And given I'll almost certainly lose my booking fee, I'm £22.50 down (for two tickets) through no fault of my own. Any thoughts from the team on how to go back? I am considering whether to approach my credit card company to ask them to argue for me on the grounds that the agency is not supplying the product which I ordered. I would accept that replacement of a lead performer by an understudy would not qualify for a refund, but if I go to this show I will hear the audience singing rather than the performers - an entirely different experience. I’d push it to the absolute max just to get them back for that pathetic response. Do these people have any idea what they come across like or about customer service whatsoever? Cheeky buggers. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 27, 2018 11:50:23 GMT
I'm worried they may have eloped. Food poisoning would be too ironic. This is far better. Again tangental, but a few years back I saw a production where food poisoning (or frankly death) would have been a relief |
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Post by n1david on Oct 27, 2018 16:55:28 GMT
Looks like TRH might be coming to the rescue, but I have STAR in reserve if necessary. Thanks for the advice and support everyone.
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Post by n1david on Oct 29, 2018 12:32:56 GMT
Full refund (including booking fee) now confirmed from Encore following pressure from TRH. Mentioning STAR in the email may have also suggested that I wasn't going to give up easily!
Thanks again all.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 29, 2018 13:35:08 GMT
I hope that the many refunds they'll have to give, coupled with the many complaints on the night from people who weren't informed in advance that the performance had been changed, will make them think "That was a disaster. We're never doing that again." And as punishment the person who came up with this damned stupid idea should be forced to listen to a recording of the painfully out of tune singing over and over again until their ears commit suicide.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 29, 2018 13:46:50 GMT
That's awesome @n1david! So happy they did the sensible thing to do!
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Post by stuart on Oct 29, 2018 14:43:45 GMT
On a similar subject, I have tickets booked for a show (which I booked in person at the box office) and I went online to book an additional ticket for a friend when I noticed that this performance was a captioned one. Again, I don’t have anything against captioned performances (I haven’t been to one before actually) but I’m worried the captioning will distract from the play itself.
Should the box office staff have told me it was captioned before I booked?
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Post by Dr Tom on Oct 29, 2018 15:15:13 GMT
Should the box office staff have told me it was captioned before I booked? Out of politeness perhaps, but I doubt there is any legal requirement, other than the theatre will legally have to offer accessible performances. If you specifically asked for that performance, they may well have assumed you checked. But it's nothing to be concerned about. The distraction will be minimal and the caption screen will be positioned to be of most use to people sat in certain areas of the theatre. I would say it's less noticeable than a signed performance. I've also found the screens useful in the past for working out what some of the words were meant to be too. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 29, 2018 16:40:38 GMT
I've found captioning quite interesting whenever I've seen it. I always find it impressive how good a job the captions do in keeping up with the speech.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 29, 2018 16:46:45 GMT
I always feel bad for understudies on a captioned performance though, I remember seeing a leading RSC actor earlier in his career struggle awfully through a performance having been thrust unexpectedly into a major role for the evening. (Although in fairness, if the captions hadn't given him away, his habit of rubbing his hands together and saying "ummm" whenever he got stuck probably still would have.)
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Post by Jon on Oct 29, 2018 17:22:44 GMT
Out of interest, has anyone ever been to a signed performance?
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